Making A Garden Journal

Years ago I read some advice on making a garden journal, which I subsequently ignored in my chutzpah assurance that I would always be as involved with the process as I was at that time. The advice was to write the names of the plants which I had planted, and to label and record their locatiion.

In the midst of the enthusiasm and priority time I once had in my garden I thought I would always have handy the latin nomenclature and the growing requirements at the tip of my tongue.

The arrogance of youth.

While it is interesting to record climate variables, the information most useful for gardening through the years are the names of the plants and observing ( and notating) how they grow in your garden.

Keeping track of the various bits of information such as type of soil and what the ph and nutrient needs of your particular space on the earth holds is also helpful.

Many variety names come and go…. looking for those which are your favorites and keeping track of experiences with catalogs and nurseries is good use for the journaling. Delightful combinations and their bloomtimes should be a definite standard.

But it all depends on your style. I am no diarist at heart. But for those who are, I think a garden journal would be most satisfactory. All the lists that are long lost would have been useful to me now. Scattered in old notebooks, most of them ended up in the trash, I am afraid.

If only something as simple and easy as blogging had been available? Hmmm. The ephemeral nature of online services means there are no guarantees.

Actually, those Victorian notebooks such as “The Country Diary” are the ultimate. If even for a season…..